The present invention relates to a women's waistband accessory device and a method of forming this waistband. The device and method utilize a scarf or similar fabric accessory formed of a piece of cloth and a separate, semi-rigid form made of flexible sheet material.
It is known in the prior art to provide all manner of attractive waistbands as accessories to women's clothing. Normally belts of leather, simulated leather, heavy cloth or a semi-rigid flexible material covered with cloth are used as a waistband. The belts are made with sufficient rigidity to maintain their width around the waist of the wearer.
An example of an extremely wide belt, at least in its front portion, is a cumberbund. A cumberbund is normally made of semi-rigid material covered with cloth and sewn together as a unit. The cloth portion exposed to view at the front of the wearer may be pleated. The U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,678 of R. N. Wilbur discloses one type of cumberbund which is designed to give the wearer a slim waistline and a sleek figure.
Scarfs have also been used as attractive waistbands, usually by wrapping them around the waist and tying their ends together either at the front, side or back of the wearer. Examples of such a use of the scarf are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,380,076 to Held and 3,605,121 to Suzuki The French Patent No. 990,349 to Cooley also teaches the use of a scarf as a waistband.
As used herein, the term "scarf" is intended to mean a broad band of cloth, usually of extremely fine woven and thin material, of such a size and shape as to enable it to be worn about the shoulders, around the neck or over the head of a woman as a fashion accessory. Due to the thinness of the material, it is extremely flexible and tends to adapt itself readily to the shape (body part or the like) with which it comes in contact.
As a consequence, when a scarf is used to form a waistband as a fashion accessory, it tends to reduce its diameter into an insignificant narrow tie around the waist, even though initially it may have been arranged about the waist spread wide like a cumberbund. Heretofore, it has not been possible to maintain the width of a scarf, when used as a waistband, in the manner of a belt or cumberbund.